Now, he’s announced that rather than face getting Lugar-ed in a primary, he’ll retire.

The decision is not wholly about his stance on supporting same-sex marriage. It’s favored in this state, and though he’d have had a race on his hands in his district (especially without the Conservative Party line on the ballot), he had another scandal to duck.

Asked if the lawsuit was a key factor in his decision, Alesi said, “You could point to that. There’s absolutely no way of making that go away. I’ve apologized, and every time it comes up, I reiterate my apology.”

The night he spoke to the Voice, Alesi sounded like a man happy to retire, his own personal sense of legacy secure with his role in state history:

I am 63 years old, and I have no children, so I won’t have any grandchildren. But I do have family. I have nieces and nephews and grand-nieces and nephews. I don’t know what they’ll think. But I do know that as a result of the collective efforts here, they’ll grow up in a world that has a broader vision of human freedom.